Filed under: Cameroon
Haha… well thanks for the pressure to write another entry, sorry that it has been so long but you need to begin to be patient with me because I really have not had the ability to use the internet in a long while!
Again, where to start. Thanks to EVERYONE who has sent packages. Really, some of them have made me tear up just looking at all of the goodies and thoughts and love and happiness that went into the packages. Really, poor college/out of college friends sending packages for 30+ dollars, no including the things inside, really, that is just… I love my friends. It is totally not necessary though but maybe that is why it is amazing to send and receive. Just know that everything I get is so appreciated and all of the food is eaten in literally a day or two. Yes. All.
SO. I got little chickens from Nigeria, right? That will grow up huge and fat and I want to breed them with the local females (all the chickens you buy that will get huge are male). BUT, Zeus, my dog, has other ideas. He took a huge bite out of one of my other adult female chickens so I brought it over to my neighbors house to eat, but it was already late so he was like “ok lets just put it in a cold place and hope it doesn’t die and we can eat it tomorrow”. “sweet”. I say. The next morning it is still alive and he is like, you know, I don’t think it is going to die. And he was right, to this day it is now walking around and eating and healthy. Crazy, an open huge gaping wound spilling blood and he is fine? Chickens are really tough. Respect chicken. Respect. Maybe I should name him Rocky. Or Obama, yes we can survive. Or for that matter, gloria gaynor. But I digress…
Things here are good. The title of the post is related to my recent activities of helping my neighbor, whom I eat breakfast and lunch with every day build his new house. And… the hot season is starting. It was 107 in the shade the other day and 132 in the sun. Yeah. Death. Between 2 and 5ish I can’t really do anything but sit around and sweat while drinking water as fast as possible. All the houses here, ok not all, but most of the houses and walls and chicken coops and everything are build just with the soil here. It is like clay everywhere and you just mix it with water and it turns into basically a cement like mixture. So I have been helping my neighbor build his house and just can’t help but be reminded of bike and build this last summer. It is like bike and build 2… in Africa. Hehe.
So I started going out regularly with the vaccinations at the hospital to give little presentations to the women and children about nutrition/maternal-child health/water/random other questions they may have. Basically I just educate about the importance of protein, a balanced diet of fruit and vegetables, and where, with their limited money, they could find sources of protein on a daily basis. Basically, I push peanuts, beans, soybeans, dried fish, and raising chickens to provide eggs and chicken meat every once and awhile. Soy is by far the best option since it is a nitrogen fixer and basically can be planted in any soil, and is really a great crop rotator or good to mix with other crops in the fields. It is relatively cheap for the amount of protein you can get and people here also make this stuff called Owara, basically just oily tofu which is actually really good if you cut it up and toss it in sauces (I like it better than the random goat/sheep pieces of meat found in most sauces).
Other things I stress is not giving any water to kids before age 6months. Almost all women give water to their children from birth and when you see the quality of the water given you would be sick. Ok… maybe just from drinking it but it is DIRTY. Mostly these small villages just have open wells which are just steaming festoons of contamination for CACA (Poop). Also, I have been trying to push villages to collect the 200,000 CFA needed to give to PARFAR, the organization that digs pumps which are much more sanitary than open wells. Basically these forrages cost 8 million CFA but all the village needs to provide is 200,000 CFA and PARFAR will dig a forrage.
I also talk about the importance of giving the first milk (colostrum) when women give birth. Most women think the milk is spoiled or rotten since it is sometimes yellowish. But, it is yellow because it is chock full of nutrients, antibodies, and all other goodies to protect the baby for awhile from malaria, polio, tetanus…etc. Basically the babies first immunization.
Anywho, so that has been fun and I hope to return to the villages and see what they have retained, educate again if needed, and ask what other information they might be interested in knowing so I could prepare and give it the next time I head out.
In other news, I found out that my guardian, the guy I pay to get water and stay at my house when I am not there, has a horribly malnourished child. Like. Horribly. I saw the child for the first time at the hospital 2 weeks ago and couldn’t look at the child. You could count every rib, every bump in his spine. He is 3 years old and has legs and arms the size slightly larger than a pen. When you pick him up you think you could break an arm with just the slightest wrong movement. Yeah. So. I immediately talked with him and I had known his kid was malnourished for awhile but never knew it was like that. The story goes, his wife died of AIDS when the kid was 5 months old. He was a fat happy kid as is any kid with a full belly of breast milk (MMM). He continued to develop well and my guardian gave the child to the parents of his wife to raise because he is horribly poor and unable to care well for the child (men don’t care for children really here, or cook…). That is where the situation was ended for the time being. However, the kid started to waste away as the family he gave the kid to is also dirt poor and fed the kid rice, flour beignets, and maybe some peanuts. Basically the kid was just not eating enough calories, or protein and so developed what we call marasmus. My guardian also is at fault because he never really stopped by the house to check up on the kid even though he knew he was sick for awhile. Anywho, after talking with my homologue we got my guardian to take the kid back to his house and start raising him himself with his brand new (1 month) wife. She has been amazing at accepting raising this child that is not really her doing and a TON of work since he is really sick and doesn’t sleep through the night..etc.
Basically that is a very abbreviated description. Anyways, so I have advanced him a lot of $$ and have been counseling him on what foods to give the child that contain a lot of protein. Basically we recommend a diet of Bouille, which is like a milky substance with peanuts and flour and rice and water, but instead of using rice you use soybeans to provide easy to digest and eat protein for children as they begin to wean from their mother. Soy is awesome. All the essential amino acids. However, we think it is a good idea to sen dthe kid off to a child development hospital to get stronger for awhile, yet, this is expensive and will end up resting on me to pay for it, which is fine. I already know that my idea to save money while here will not actually happen because if I know I can do something with $, even if it is not “sustainable”, if someone or some child is in dire need of something I am going to buy it regardless of the sustainability, who is at fault..etc. I could not bear to see a child die due to me saying I want to save some 20,40,50 bucks. Such is life here. I also paid for a friend of mine whose parents are old old old and can’t provide for him to continue going to the government school. MAN, they really want to make it hard for kids to go to school here. Agh. Kids pay a lot of money to go to a highschool that hardly works, hardly educates, and hardly has class/teachers. AND, then if they miss the deadline because they have no $, when they DO find the money , people in the system require bribes and extra FINES… MORE money to just be eaten by some officials for beer from these poor kids who are just craving an education. Sick.
Recently there was youth day (11th of February) that was an interesting experience too. Basically every event for youth day is planned by the old and entrenched corrupt elite. Hrm….
It consisted of a very formal event where all the schools marched like soldiers infront of the elite, the provincial delegates..etc..etc. Then the youth had a party in the evening which started 3 hours late because all of the youth had to wait for the elites to show up. Hrm, this party is for the youth? All the elites sit up front in nice comfy chairs while the youth push and shove to get a glimpse of the happenings. Also, it is almost womens day where most of the events will be planned by men. Hrm…
Also, in talking about respect for women we got on the subject of sex and i was talking about low risk activities one could engage in with someone whose HIV status you did not know. Such as manual sex, oral sex (with protection or without, still lower risk than unprotected sex), and other creative ways such as insertive objects..etc. They all looked at me like I was crazy. Hehe. Sex here, well, not much differently than in the US is a very taboo and clear cut item. The missionary position is the only position, they even JOKED about the idea that the women could be on top… which obviously indicated that the women was dominant in the relationship. All is related to the power dynamic. The man is in control. Maybe on womens day the women could be on top?? 😛 BUT! Good news is that the condom initiative that |I started is going pretty well, informal reports and observations by me show that they are selling well and during the youth day when the youth had their little dance and party thing a TON of condoms were sold, which is awesome. Especially for a village that a couple weeks ago had none.
Friendships here are had because no matter how close you may think you are with another person, there are always barriers. I found out that my homologue, who is like my dad in village, is looking to marry another wife. I was always really just proud and thought that he respected women, I mean, not like he doesn’t just because he wants another wife but I just thought he was more westernized and was happy and content with his one wife. Clearly I don’t mean to oversimplify the culture of polygamy and the muslim norms…etc. But, still, for me, it was a sad finding out because I directly correlate polygamy with the subjugation and lack of respect/ submission of women to men.
During the youth day I played in a volleyball match, the highschool kids against the “grands”. Basically this is the first time in my life I played with the “old” team. I am old. Doh… I was like.. I am YOUNG… younger than some of the people on the lycee team, cmon can’t I play with the youth team?? I guess this is the beginning of the end… haha… joking. It was a great game a just a fun time!
Cameroonians are SO communal. The community aspect of the culture is amazing. A guys house burned down during the youth week and the whole village got together and built him another house the very next couple days. Awesome. The commune, basically the mayor and the traditional chiefs refused to fix the roads that are in horrible condition following the rainy season so all the youth from one quartier got together, myself included, and we just worked with our hands and axes to fix the road one sunday. It was awesome and it is just an amazing feeling how communal they all are. I mean, they need to be communal to survive, I think that is why we have lost that in the US.. we can afford to live on our own, but we need to return to this ideal. Yes, you may fiscally be able to live cooped up in your gated community house, but can you spiritually, and is your life meaningful without ties to others surrounding you? I think not. People are more valuable than $$. Well, economists don’t think so.. but I do. Dear readers, know that I think you are worth more than the 2 million or whatever the total for an american life is nowadays. Children are normally considered 1/3 the price of adults when considering government/other programs statistically on how much $$ to spend on safety items…
I climbed a mountain to get cell phone signal the other day. Haha. Things you don’t need to do in America. But it worked. Booya.
While giving vaccinations in a SMALL town called Palva and we asked the name of the newborn child who was 21 days old and the women responded ” Barack Obama”. That was the highlight of my week/month. It was just a surreal experience, she eliminating the family name and any other customs to replace the name with Barack Obama. I really want to write a letter to Obama and tell him to remember Africa. There are huge groups of children being named after him in Africa. He better remember Africa. The amount of people who already have Barack obama shirts in village is remarkable.
One of the funnier aspects of the story is as she walked away after Barack received his polio and BCG vaccinations, I saw she was wearing an Osama bin laden shirt saying “Attack on” on the back. I mean, I am sure she just has no idea what the meaning of the shirt was, but that was just the icing on the cake for the story… haha. Barack Obama, child of mother who supports Osama?
A couple people (kate) have asked what a normal day is like for me, and how much freedom I have in choosing my projects. Basically it can depend on your assignment. Some other volunteers work directly with a womens center, or an NGO working against AIDS…etc…etc. So those volunteers have less freedom to develop and pursue a myriad of other projects because their time is already taken up a lot by there work with the NGO or center. I, however, really have all the freedom in the world to work on any project or idea that interests me. So, in training once you get in country if you really want freedom you could say you want to just be paired with a health center and work on certain projects… or you could say you want to be paired with a well organized NGO if you really want to work with someone who has money and the ability to do a lot of large projects. It all depends on the wants of the person. A normal day is pretty impossible but it includes a lot of talking with locals in the village, spending a little time at the hospital, going out to villages around, reading, having meetings, eating, napping…etc.
OK… really sorry this entry has been rushed because I have a million things I need to get done like running to legalize a bunch of community groups and going to NGOs to talk about projects, make a ton of photocopies, buy a chain to attach the dog at the house so he stops eating chickens…etc.
Happy belated valentines day everyone. I can’t believe it is almost march. I have been in Peace Corps almost 6 months now. Wow! Like everything in life it has been going fast and slow at the same time! I really miss everyone. Is it bad that I am already looking forward to coming home? I just am excited to see everyone, talk about my experiences, and go back to school, use my experiences to color reading scientific/theory based documents about everything I have already experienced on the ground, and then come back maybe or work internationally where I can make a difference.
So, maybe you can all help me out a bit. As you know I have been trying to figure out what I should do with my life. You all know me best. What do you think? When I get back December 2010 should I go back to grad school the next year? Should I wait another year? Since, if grad school is the answer then I need to apply while still here next year. If grad school is the answer, and eventually it will be, what subject? I have been trying to figure out what is the lowest common denominator that causes poverty. Where could I intervene to make the biggest difference? Is it education, health, environmental things (water, nutrition, planting crops/trees)? Global public health then? Or should I become a doctor? The problem with a doctorate is that it is a huge commitment and I would have to go back to school for 1/2 a year or maybe more to make up all the requirements in physics, chemistry, biology that I did not take in college. Also, school for that is a long time. I mean, it would be sweet to have a MD/Ph.D and have the opportunity to treat patients… maybe do an MD in general practice and then have a Ph.D too to also have the research/statistical background to analyze more broader based problems. In that way you could treat individual as well as global problems. But, again, big commitment… and I don’t know how well I could cut open human skin/deal with a lot of blood/etc? I mean, I think girls education and womens empowerment here in Africa is huge. I mean, ameliorating the whole educational system… but the hardest thing for me to not just snap and get angry about is how incredibly hard the life is for women, and how blind the men are to the situation and how bad it is. I want to organize or help to organize an extreme north bike tour (yes BIKING) to benefit girls education and educate about the importance of…yes.. educating girls.
Like.. three cups of tea. Build schools. Each year you educate WELL 1000 kids, wow. Big difference.
Anywho, please, let me know what you think… :)!
Thanks for all your continued support. Life is amazing.
OH! Another thing. I have been reading a lot of good books and keeping a list of them. Here are some of the good ones that I can remember off the top of my head since the others are written on my laptop which I didn’t bring here and the battery does not work which means that I can’t look at it in village. Anywho… the books are in order of how good I think they are… if you have some time, read them. If you have an suggestions.. let me know. I know there are a ton more that I have read but that is all I can remember off the top of my head.
ALSO, if you are at all interested in sending me material related to maternal health, nutrition in Africa, treating severely malnourished children, education…etc. Feel free. Also, if you have any ideas or things you read of small projects (1000-3000 USD) that I could maybe look into that would make a big difference and ideally be sustainable, don’t be shy.
BOOKS:
Eleven Minutes ~ Paulo Coelho
Tao Te Ching ~ Lao Tsu
Being Peace ~ thich nhat hanh
Ishmael
Tuesdays With Morrie
Dancing Skeletons (a lot of information similar to Cameroon if you want to get an idea of life here)
A Million Little Pieces
The Dharma Bums ~ Jack Keroac
The Alchemist
The Kite Runner
Fast food nation
The driftless area ~ Tom drury
Fast Food Nation
Peace like a river
Brief wondrous life of oscar wao
With so much love and thoughts…
Bradley
The Life of Brad 